Greyback
by Satan Abraham
Summary: Roger Greyback has always lived a life alone and far away from any human company. In his first year of Hogwarts, however, that all changes. Soon he's pulled away from his Slytherin friends and into the world of a certain Luna Lovegood.
1. Chapter One: Pureblood

**And here's the first chapter. :3 It's a bit short, but… next chapter we get Maurice POV? :D **

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Roger clutched his trunk, glancing at the brick wall in between platforms nine and ten. His father had said to just run at it – just run straight at that brick wall, right there. Of course, the man hadn't stuck around to see him off, or even show him how to run through. So, he could wait until someone else came along to show him… right?

He glanced at the clock. Oh, yeah, he had about twenty minutes before the train left; he could afford to wait a bit longer.

Luckily, a group that had to be bound for Hogwarts walked up in about four minutes. Roger hung back, watching as the older, blond boy ran through. It was then that the younger-looking one noticed him.

"Mum, I think he's a first year, too," the kid hissed. The boy's mother glanced over at Roger, who shifted uncomfortably.

"Are you a first year?" she asked. Roger nodded quickly, going back to staring at the wall. "Just go in with Maurice, he helped see off Ernie last time. Meanwhile, I need to get your father to work. Can you handle this, Maurice?"

The boy nodded and grinned brightly at Roger, who averted his gaze. "Hi! I'm Maurice!" he said. "Follow me! We've gotta find a compartment to sit in, so we should probably get going."

Roger took a few steps toward the barrier, but apparently he was moving too slow, because Maurice grabbed his hand and pulled him through. He could barely stop a startled yelp as he went straight through the brick wall and ended up on the other side, one of his hands clutching his trunk, the other clutching Maurice's hand.

Maurice, however, wasn't fazed at all. He just got a better hold on his trunk and pulled Roger up to the train.

Roger usually thought people who thought random objects beautiful weird, but even he couldn't deny the train was beautiful. It was gigantic, and shiny, and… he could marvel at its beauty any longer, because Maurice had pulled him onto it. His trunk got stuck on the way up, and he had to yell at Maurice before the other boy took his arm off.

"Hey! Stop!" he said. Maurice looked back.

"Oh, sorry," he said, laughing a little and setting down his trunk. It took both of them to try and get the thing to even move. "What do you have in here, rocks?"

…Maurice didn't need to know that he'd brought along a few rocks for fun, did he?

After about five minutes of pulling, they eventually got it up onto the train. Maurice sighed.

"Now we're gonna have a harder time finding a compartment," he muttered.

"Sorry," Roger said. He wasn't even sure why Maurice was still hanging around him; once most wizards and witches found out who he was, they usually left right away-

Of course. Maurice had never asked his name. Well, he'd have a friend until the sorting ceremony. Maurice didn't seem too bothered about not knowing his name.

"Are you coming?"

Roger blinked and nodded, shaking his head free of those irrelevant-for-now thoughts. He followed Maurice down the train until the taller boy stopped in front of a nearly full compartment and opened the door. "Is it okay if we sit in here with you? Everywhere else's full."

Roger rolled his eyes. They'd only been down half of the train at most, but, whatever.

"I don't know; you're not mudbloods, are you?" one of the smaller boys said, a boy with almost white hair and grey eyes. Both Roger and Maurice shook their heads. "Then I suppose. Just for the way there."

The redhead that was stretching out across one of the seats sat up and scooted over to sit next to the window. Maurice smiled brightly and sat in the middle, leaving Roger to the side by the door. "I'm Draco Malfoy, and these are Crabbe, Goyle-"

"And I'm Jack Merridew," the redhead said. He looked at Roger for longer than most people did, until Roger dropped his gaze, flushing. Maurice smiled brightly.

"I'm Maurice Macmillan. And this is… uh…" Maurice said, just realizing that he'd never gotten Roger's name. Roger rolled his eyes.

"Roger," he said. Draco Malfoy looked closer at him.

"Roger what?"

Roger swallowed and glanced at the floor. Was it too late to move compartments, to move somewhere where they wouldn't be asking him about his last name? Clearly him and Maurice had stumbled upon a group of Slytherin – if the names Malfoy and Merridew were anything to go by – pureblood supremacists. And though Roger was a pureblood, people learning his family name usually didn't go over very well. There was always some cousin or uncle or sibling that had gotten attacked by his grandfather.

"Well?" Malfoy said. He sniffed. "I'm starting to think you're just a mudblood parading around as a pureblood so you'll get some friends."

"M'brother's best friend is a muggleborn," Maurice muttered under his breath. Roger ignored it. He wasn't a werewolf, but he'd inherited more finely tuned senses than most people.

"It's Greyback," he said. Everyone – not including Goyle, who was staring out the window with a blank expression on his face – gasped.

"Like- Fenrir Greyback?" Jack Merridew said. Roger bit his lip and nodded.

"He's my grandfather," he muttered.

"You're not a werewolf, are you?" Malfoy asked. Roger shook his head. Malfoy leaned back in his seat, looking satisfied. "Then I suppose it's alright. Just don't eat me."

"You can be like Crabbe and Goyle – we use them to scare people," Merridew said, nodding. Roger rolled his eyes. Wonderful. He'd found people that weren't distant as soon as he told them his name and they wanted to use him to terrify people.

That wasn't bad, though. He did kind of like scaring people…

"We should change into our robes," Goyle said suddenly. They all jumped. He pointed out the window to some obviously significant piece of scenery. "We're almost there."

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**And I'm just assuming Fenrir Greyback's old enough to have a son with a son old enough to go to Hogwarts, seeing as he's the one who turned Remus Lupin into a werewolf. **

**Anyway, review! :D**


	2. Chapter Two: House Pride

**Thank you for all of the alerts and the review. :3 I appreciate it. **

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"Firs' years! Firs' years this way!"

Maurice grabbed Roger's hand again, noting that he didn't flinch away from the touch this time. As silly as it sounded, he really didn't want to get separated from Roger. Draco and Jack and the others were nice, but they were second years, and, to be honest, Maurice didn't want to get shoved around with a bunch of people he didn't know. Maurice was outgoing, but he'd prefer being around a friend.

They followed the giant – Maurice seriously doubted that this guy was an actual giant, that's just what Ernie had said – down to the lake. Maurice tried to keep himself and Roger away from the edge; Ernie had said there was a giant squid in there. Maurice didn't know about Roger, but he sure didn't want to get eaten by a giant squid.

The giant looked impatient. "Well? What're ye waitin' for? Get in the boats!"

Just then Maurice noticed the boats. He'd have to get near the water after all. Roger twisted out of his grip. "You're cutting off circulation," he hissed. Maurice smirked a little.

"Sorry."

They ended up sitting in a boat with two girls. Maurice wondered briefly if they were purebloods.

That thought was blown away, however, once he saw the castle. He was pretty sure the only reason first years went across in the boats was so that they could see this beautiful view. It looked kind of scary, sure, but beautiful all the same. Ernie hadn't been exaggerating.

They were going to be sorted soon, weren't they? Maurice swallowed, already a little nervous. It was too much for him to hope to be in Slytherin, like all of his new friends. He'd probably be stuck in Hufflepuff like Ernie.

Not that he knew for sure what house Roger'd be in. But he'd put money on Slytherin.

"Coming?" Roger asked, breaking into his thoughts. Maurice shook his head free and grinned.

"Sorry. Wow, I apologize a lot, don't I?" he remarked, springing out of the boat and onto the shore. Roger rolled his eyes and the two walked up to the castle.

They were met by a very strict-looking woman. Maurice gulped. She didn't look happy.

"First years," she said, nodding. "You shall be sorted in a few minutes. Now, there are four houses you could be sorted into – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. Please do not make a fuss if you do not get into the house you wanted, clearly, you entered the house best for you. Wait here, and please do not make too much noise."

With a swirl of her emerald cloak, she was gone. Maurice blinked. "Who's that?" he hissed to no-one in particular. Nobody knew; or if they did, they didn't feel like telling him.

He was pretty sure something at least slightly exciting would have happened had the woman not come back at that very moment. "We are ready."

Ernie hadn't been exaggerating when he talked about the Great Hall, either. It was amazingly huge, with candles and people everywhere. Maurice sought out the Slytherin table and caught Jack's eye. Jack nodded to him, and Maurice grinned back.

They stopped just before the head table. The woman stood with a long scroll. "Now, when I call your name, you are to come and sit on the stool. I will rest the hat on your head and it will call out your house."

Maurice wondered how they were supposed to know which table was for their house. Well, Slytherin was green… Hufflepuff was yellow… Ravenclaw was blue… Gryffindor was red… he'd have to look at the ties.

He drifted in and out of daydreaming, occasionally hearing the woman call out a name. She'd probably introduced herself at some point, but he couldn't remember when for the life of him.

"Creevy, Colin!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Drake, Simon!"

Simon sat on the stool for a while, swinging his feet and looking out on the Hall. Maurice felt slightly unnerved when the boy's bright green eyes passed over him. Eventually, the hat decided on "RAVENCLAW!"

"Greyback, Roger!"

The hall went silent as Roger climbed the stairs to sit on the stool. The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted out, with complete certainty, "SLYTHERIN!"

"Figures," a boy near Maurice muttered. Maurice looked at him.

"Why?"

"Well, he's a Greyback, isn't he?" the boy said, curling his lip in disgust. "They're like… werewolves."

"I think he's nice," Maurice said, then continued watching the sorting.

A set of twins was the next group Maurice paid attention to. Both were sorted into Gryffindor. Right after them was one of the girls they'd ridden a boat with.

"Lovegood, Luna!" was her name. She was pronounced a "RAVENCLAW!"

"Macmillan, Maurice!"

Oh, that was him! He bounded up the stairs and sat on the stool, grinning and trying his best to think evil thoughts. Thoughts like 'filthy mudbloods' and 'I want to eat these people and drink their blood.'

'You're certainly an odd one.' Maurice jumped, not expecting the hat's voice in his head. The hat chuckled. 'You'd do well in any house, I believe. A jack of all trades.'

_Please, please go Slytherin_, Maurice thought, crossing his fingers. _All of my new friends are there! And it's okay if I go there, I'm a pureblood. We can trace our ancestry back-_

'Yeah, yeah, nine generations, I sorted your brother last year,' the hat said. 'Well, if you insist…'

Maurice grinned as the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" He waited for the woman to take the hat off of his head and went to go sit beside Roger, who had a rare smile on his face. "I made it!" he said. "The hat didn't know where to put me!"

"Really?" Roger asked.

"He said I'd 'do well in any house,'" Maurice said, nodding. "How'd your conversation with the thing go?"

"There wasn't one," Roger said, switching his glance from Maurice to the last girl being sorted. Her name was, "Weasley, Ginevra" and, in true Weasley fashion, she was a Gryffindor. After her was one more boy – who was sorted into their house – and then it was over.

To be honest, Maurice didn't really pay attention to anything the Headmaster said in his speech. He probably should have been, but he did pay attention at the important part – when the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was announced.

"And, lastly, I would like to introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher – Gilderoy Lockhart!"

Maurice gasped. Gilderoy Lockhart? Of course; that would explain all of the Lockhart books on the list! Roger looked at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Maurice nodded.

"Gilderoy Lockhart is-"

"An idiot? Creepy? Self-absorbed?" Roger suggested. Maurice shook his head.

"The _greatest wizard of this age_," he said. Jack snorted.

"Just keep thinking that," he said. Draco looked over.

"What are you talking about?"

"Maurice is a Lockhart fangirl," Jack said. Maurice frowned.

"I am not," he muttered, turning his attention to the food. Most everyone had started eating already, and Maurice wasted no time in filling his plate. Jack was picking at his food. "Not hungry?"

Jack shook his head, and Maurice reached over Roger's plate to snag a drumstick from Jack's plate. Jack just looked at him. "There's more-"

"Shut up."

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**This one's a little short as well, but they do get longer. The next Maurice chapter is twice the size of this one. :D Next chapter we meet lots of LotF characters! **


	3. Chapter Three: The Outcasts of Ravenclaw

_Dear Daddy,_

_Hogwarts is nice so far. I got sorted into Ravenclaw, just like you and Mum were! I haven't made many friends yet, but it's only the second day. There's a boy in my year that's been nice, though, his name is Simon, I think. We're eating breakfast together right now – see the little juice stain? I accidentally knocked over a cup._

_Also, there's a Slytherin boy in my year named Roger Greyback. His last name sounds familiar; do you know why? Everyone else seemed to know. He's kind of scary, but he doesn't seem that bad. He glared at me when we tried to go through a narrower doorway at the same time, but then his friend pulled him back. His friend is a gentleman._

_Anyway, I should eat so I can get some food in me before our first class! It's Transfiguration with the Gryffindors. Me and Simon are going to go early so we can get good seats. _

_Your loving daughter,_

_Luna_

She attached the letter to the owl that had been waiting oh so patiently at their table. She smiled at it as it flew away. Simon looked at her. "Were you writing to your dad?" he asked. Luna nodded. "My parents would be a little scared if I sent them an owl."

"Why?"

"They're… uh… they can't do magic," he said lamely. Luna nodded.

"They're muggles!" she said.

"Yeah," he said. They finished in silence and grabbed their bags. "Ready?"

"Yep!" Luna said, following him out of the Great Hall. They weren't quite sure where the Transfiguration classroom was, but that's why they'd eaten early and quickly. They'd finished just as most people were heading in to eat.

That Greyback boy – Roger – and his friend rushed past them, knocking Simon over. They didn't bother to say sorry, and Luna would've called after them, but she decided that she should help Simon. His bag hadn't been fully fastened and had spilled out everywhere. Luna kneeled down and helped him pick up his books.

"Thank you," he said. Luna smiled at him, and he looked away, flushing. "We should probably get going."

Though they were later than they'd originally wanted, they were still among the first ones there. They took a seat near the front of the class, but next to the window just because. "What do you think this class will be like?" Simon hissed. Luna shrugged. "And we're with Gryffindors! What are Gryffindors like?"

"Daddy says they're all crazy," Luna said. "Harry Potter's a Gryffindor."

"Who's Harry Potter?"

Everyone in the room stopped their conversations and stared at Simon. A blonde Gryffindor girl was the first to speak. "Did you just ask 'who's Harry Potter?'"

Simon shifted uncomfortably, slowly turning red. "Um. Yes," he murmured. "I… I only knew that magic existed when my letter was delivered."

The blonde girl lifted her chin, looking extremely arrogant. "Harry Potter is _only_ the savior of the entire wizarding world. He defeated… he defeated You-Know-Who twice, once when he was only a baby. _And_ he's in my house."

"Who's You-Know-Who?" Simon asked. The girl looked at him like he was an idiot and scoffed before turning away.

"And he's a Ravenclaw?" was clearly heard before the class returned to separate conversations. Simon was beet red.

"It's okay," Luna said. "Muggles couldn't have known about You-Know-Who. I heard his head was full of Wrackspurts, anyway."

She meant for this to make him feel better, but instead he just looked sadder. "Are Wrackspurts another thing everyone knows about?" he asked. Luna shook her head.

"Everybody thinks me and my daddy are crazy when we talk about them," she said. Simon looked at her, finally losing his depressed look.

"People at home think I'm crazy, too! I wonder when class is going to start…" he said, switching the subject suddenly. Just as he said that, a bright-haired Gryffindor bounded into the room, breathless.

"It's Ginevra Weasley," Luna said quietly. She stood up, waving. "Hello, Ginevra!"

Ginevra turned red and waved back, taking a seat near the blonde Gryffindor girl that had made fun of Simon. "Do you know her?" Simon asked. Luna nodded.

"We were in a compartment together on the train. She has _six_ older brothers," Luna said. Simon was obviously impressed with this fact. "I think she might be my friend someday."

The woman that had conducted the sorting walked into the room and scanned the class. "We've still got a few missing, I see," she said. With a sigh, she turned into a tabby cat and leaped up onto her desk. Luna heard Simon gasp, and couldn't help but be impressed, too. Daddy had tried to be a… what was the word… well, a person that could turn into an animal, too, but he'd gotten too busy with work to finish. This woman was obviously very skilled.

A few moments later, a Gryffindor boy and a few Ravenclaw girls burst into the classroom. "Thank God we're not late!" one of the girls said. Luna tried and failed to remember her name. She couldn't remember any of these people's names, except Simon of course, and Ginevra. And Roger Greyback, but he wasn't in this class, so he didn't matter.

She wondered if he remembered her name. Probably not. He probably only remembered his own name and his friend's name.

She shook her head free of distracting thoughts just as the professor shifted back into a human. Everyone gasped, even the blonde Gryffindor girl that was so well versed in magic. "Please take your seats," she said. "Now, I am Professor McGonagall. Before we start, I must warn you. Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone caught messing around in my class will leave and not come back."

Luna looked at Simon. He looked a little anxious. She wondered if anyone would get kicked out. Probably when the Slytherins had it, one of them would. Maybe Roger Greyback would. He didn't seem like he cared about rules very much.

She'd started to daydream again, hadn't she? Everyone else had started to take notes. She hurriedly began to scribble what Professor McGonagall was saying on a piece of parchment, glancing up every now and then.

After Transfiguration was History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs. It was incredibly boring, and Luna decided that if she really needed to know this, she'd read about it sometime. Maybe Simon would lend her the notes he was taking. He seemed to be the only one that wasn't sleeping, daydreaming, or flat out ignoring Professor Binns. He actually looked like he was enjoying himself.

When Luna asked him about it at lunch, he gave her a shy smile and said something about liking history. Luna thought that history wasn't really good for anything – it was always better to live in the present, but she didn't tell Simon this, because Simon had actually looked happy in History of Magic.

After more classes – none with the Slytherins at all; when were they going to get to be in a class with the Slytherins? – it was finally time for the school day to end. Luna only had a little work to do, and she finished it quickly in the common room.

"I'm a bit bored," she remarked to Simon. Simon nodded. He was browsing their Potions textbook. They had their first Potions class tomorrow, Luna remembered. With the Slytherins, no less! She wondered if Roger was any good at Potions.

She also wondered why she was thinking about him so much. Maybe she'd get a letter back from her father, soon, and then she'd know.

"Can I sit down with you?"

Luna looked up. A very fat boy with glasses was standing in front of them. Simon looked up and smiled at the boy, glancing at Luna. Luna nodded, seeing no reason not to. "My name is-"

"Piggy," a tall, fair-haired boy said, passing the group. "His name's Piggy, and he can't do anything 'on account of his ass-mar.'"

Piggy went red. "That's Bill," he muttered. "He's not very nice."

"I'm Simon," Simon said. "And this is Luna."

"Hello, Piggy!" Luna said, smiling. She'd have to write to Daddy to tell him that she'd gotten another new friend. And maybe tell him about Ginevra.

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**Luna: *writes* **_**Roger's friend is a gentleman.**_

**Maurice: *knocks over Simon***

**Yeah, I totally forgot that Luna wrote that until I finished the chapter. :P So we'll just have contradictory Maurice.**

**Okay, so, thanks for the reviews – I really appreciate them. :D **


	4. Chapter Four: Flying Lessons

"Roger! Roger! Roger, wake up! We've got our first flying lesson today!"

Roger yawned and sat up. Maurice was at the end of his bed, fully dressed, bouncing up and down. "Did I miss breakfast or something?" he asked. Maurice shook his head.

"No! I've just been awake for hours!"

Roger sighed and flopped back down onto his bed. Maurice sighed. Someone threw a shoe at Maurice, and suddenly Roger was on the floor, Maurice holding his arm. "Ow!" Roger complained. "Okay, I'm getting up."

Maurice cheered and shoved Roger's robes into his hand. "You had a bath yesterday, right? Right. You'll be fine. Get dressed. Then we'll go eat breakfast and-"

"Shut up!" the only other boy in their year yelled, burying his face into his pillow. Maurice giggled, and Roger rolled his eyes and got dressed. Maurice didn't wait for him to tie his tie, instead grabbing his hand and dragging him out of their dorm. They passed a bleary-eyed Jack and many sleeping seventh years in the common room, and once they got out of the dungeons, Roger stopped.

"What are you doing?" Maurice almost yelled, looking frantic.

"First of all, nobody's awake. Just being up doesn't make time go faster, in fact, it seems like it makes time go slower. Secondly, I need to tie this," he said. He wasn't very good at tying ties, but he figured that was okay, because Maurice was looking quite impatient, and it was quite funny.

Lockhart passed by them. "Having troubles with the ties, boys?" he asked. Roger refrained from rolling his eyes again. "No matter, no matter, I can teach you the perfect spell that can-"

"I got it," Roger said, yanking on it one last time before beginning to walk off. He heard Maurice stammer a greeting to Lockhart and run after him.

"Are you stupid? He could've gotten it looking nice!" Maurice said, getting the same look in his eyes that several of the female population of Hogwarts got when Lockhart entered the room. "I don't think you understand how amazing that man is."

Thankfully, Maurice stopped talking about Lockhart by the time they got up to the Great Hall. They were some of the first ones there, apart from a few Ravenclaws – Roger recognized them of them from the sorting – and two sets of Gryffindor twins.

Maurice ate everything in sight, including half of the food off of Roger's plate. Roger, on the other hand, was a bit nervous about flying lessons. He'd only been on a broom a few times before, when he was really young, and he'd heard that last year a boy's broom had gone crazy and he'd broken his wrist.

Of course, he'd also heard that this boy was Neville Longbottom, who was seen as sort of a joke in Slytherin, but still. He was still a bit nervous. He managed to force down a piece of toast and a few pieces of bacon.

Even with Maurice's appetite they were done before half of the school got up. They decided to wander around the school, peeking into random rooms. More than once they walked in on a couple snogging.

"Wanna check out the Quidditch pitch?" Maurice asked. Without waiting for Roger's answer, he bounded on, beginning to ramble about Quidditch. "I wish first-years could be on the Quidditch team. Harry Potter was on the Quidditch team when he was a first year, why can't I?"

"Because Harry Potter is shown loads of favoritism," Roger muttered. Maurice looked back at him.

"Yeah. That's why I don't like Gryffindors. The headmaster was one, so all Gryffindors are good and all Slytherins are evil!" Maurice said, throwing his hands up in the air. Roger rolled his eyes yet again. "Of course, I did choose Slytherin…"

Eventually they stumbled upon where they would be having their first flying class. A woman was taking out the school brooms and lining them up. "Hello boys," she said, glancing up. "Would you like to help me set up the brooms?"

"Okay!" Maurice said, bounding to take a few of the brooms from the woman. Roger followed his example, spreading them out as evenly as he could. Eventually, people started to drift out. They had flying lessons with the Gryffindors, and, for some reason, there weren't many of them. This year wasn't very large.

Roger ended up across from one of the Gryffindor twins. The Lark twins, were they? He couldn't quite remember, but he figured that was probably right. Roger smirked at the boy, who flinched.

And then the woman blew her whistle. Roger resisted the urge to cover his ears; that was way too high-pitched for his liking. "Step up to stand beside your brooms!" she barked. "Now, my name is Madam Hooch. We're going to start with the basics today – just hovering for the most part. Maybe if a few of you are advanced I can arrange for somebody to take you down to the pitch where you can practice long-term flying, but for today we'll just be hovering."

Roger swallowed, trying to take all of this information in. He hadn't really paid attention in any of his other classes – especially not History of Magic – but he really didn't want to be the one to fall off of a broom.

"Hold your hand over your broom and say 'Up!'"

Roger swallowed, stuck his hand over his broom, and waited for someone else to do something before he did. Unluckily, everyone seemed to have the same idea. Even Maurice, who had been so ecstatic about this lesson, looked like he was having second thoughts. Eventually, the boy on the other side of Roger – Roger probably should learn his name; after all, he'd be sharing the room with him for his entire Hogwarts career – spoke up.

"Excuse- excuse me, but…" he trailed off, picking at his robes.

"Yes? Speak up!"

"It seems too simple," the boy blurted out. Madam Hooch sighed.

"What's your name?"

"H-Harold Yaxley, m'am," he stuttered.

"Well, Mister Yaxley, try it."

"Up?"

"Put more force in it, boy!"

The woman suddenly turned to Roger, who flinched. She looked him up and down, glanced at Maurice – at this point, Roger was crossing his fingers and hoping that she wouldn't talk to him about anything – and then looked back to him.

"What's your name?"

"Roger," he said, trying to look anywhere but her eyes. He settled on glaring at the Gryffindor across from him. The woman continued looking at him, as if waiting for something else. Oh yeah. His last name. "Greyback."

Madam Hooch didn't look as disturbed as most did, but she still looked a little shocked. She recovered quickly. "You do it. You've got your hand over the broom, now say 'up.'"

Roger took a deep breath. "Up."

The broom shot up with more force than Roger would've thought was possible. He clutched it, wavering a little at the strength of it. What he thought could pass as a smile flickered across Madam Hooch's face for a second, then she turned back to the class.

"See? It is that simple."

Spurred on by Roger's success, everyone began shouting out 'up!' Maurice and a red-headed Gryffindor girl were some of the first to get it up, and eventually they were waiting on a blond Gryffindor with a camera.

Seriously, who brought a camera to class? Flying class, especially?

After a few more stammered 'up's, they all were holding brooms. Roger was pretty sure he'd seen Harold just bend over and grab his quick while Hooch wasn't looking, but he wouldn't point that out. Slytherins stick together, right?

No, that was Hufflepuffs… Slytherins stick together unless there's something at stake? That sounded better.

Hooch looked around and, satisfied that they'd all managed to grab ahold of their brooms, nodded. "Now, mount your broom-"

Maurice sniggered. She was on him instantly.

"Is something funny, Mister…?"

"Macmillan," Maurice said, finding a sudden interest in his shoes.

"Mister Macmillan?"

Maurice shook his head violently, then grinned at Roger when Hooch turned away. "You're an idiot," Roger hissed. Maurice's grin grew.

"Mount your brooms, and, on my whistle, kick off from the ground, hard. Once you've hovered for a few seconds, lean forward to come back down. Yes, Yaxley?"

Harold, who looked more nervous than ever, swallowed. "Um- last year- didn't a boy fall off of his broom and break his wrist?"

Hooch scoffed. "Longbottom had it coming. If you're careful, you'll be fine. Now- three, two, one!" she blew her whistle and Roger kicked off, amazed at the high he got from being a few feet off the ground. He almost forgot to come down and Maurice had to pull at his sleeve.

"Good job, Greyback," Madam Hooch said, nodding to him. Roger felt heat rush to his face and nodded back, rubbing the wood of the broom with his thumb. "No, Yaxley, not like that!"

Roger walked off to Potions with a huge grin on his face; he wasn't quite sure why, but maybe it had to do with the fact that Madam Hooch had told him that maybe, by the end of the next lesson, he'd be able to go down to the Quidditch pitch with Maurice and the red-haired Gryffindor. Weasley, he thought.

Halfway through the door of the Potions classroom, Maurice stopped short. "I grabbed the wrong book!" he hissed. "Come with me to get it!"

"Get it yourself," Roger said, still on a Quidditch high. "I'm going to go sit down."

"But Roger!" Maurice whined. Roger rolled his eyes and pushed his way through the crowd into the Potions classroom. He chose a seat near the back of the class, throwing his back on the second chair to his table so Maurice would have somewhere to sit.

"Excuse me, but is anyone sitting here?"

Roger looked up to see a distant-looking Ravenclaw. "Obviously," Roger snorted, looking pointedly at his bag. The girl shrugged and skipped to the front of the room to join a smallish dark-haired Ravenclaw boy.

Roger bit his lip as who could only be Professor Snape swept into the classroom. Where was Maurice? God help him if he was just dawdling.

Snape stalked to the front of the classroom, looking over the students. Roger averted his eyes, staring at his desk. Snape began the class with roll call, and Roger glanced over at the door once more. He was paying so much attention to where Maurice could be he didn't hear his name being called.

"Greyback!"

"Oh, um, here," Roger said, flushing. A few names later, he got to "Macmillan."

"Macmillan?" Snape repeated. There were a few moments of silence, and then he scribbled something down in his book. "Well, then, absent…"

"I'm here!" Maurice gasped, propelling himself through the door, tripping over nothing, and falling flat on his face. Everyone laughed, and he came up with a grin on his face. "Sorry, Professor."

Snape's lip curled, but he simply nodded at Maurice and went back to the roll call. Once Yaxley's name was called, Snape slammed shut the book and glared at them again. "Now, Potions class…"

Roger ignored practically everything Snape said, figuring that if he needed to know anything that desperately, someone would tell him in more than the monotone that Snape was speaking in.

Eventually, the class was over, and Roger followed Maurice and Harold back to the common room. In the common room, Draco Malfoy was ranting to Jack, Crabbe and Goyle about something or other.

"What's the problem?" Maurice asked, flopping down on the couch next to Goyle. Goyle gave him a weird look and scooted closer to Crabbe. Maurice didn't take any notice of it. Harold muttered something about needing to go do something and left.

"He flies a car into the Whomping Willow and all he gets is one. Damn. Detention," Draco said. Roger noted with some interest that his face was almost bright red. "If it had been a Slytherin, Dumbledore would've at least given them a week's worth! If it had been anyone but Potter, he would've given them at least a week's worth! That is favoritism!"

"Slytherin's got its fair share of favoritism, though," Maurice pointed out. "Today I was five or so minutes late to class and he barely looked at me."

Draco snorted. "Yeah, but we deserve favoritism. What has Potter done?"

"Just defeated You-Know-"

"Maurice, just shut up," Jack snapped, speaking for the first time. Roger glanced at him. He was stretched out on the couch opposite Crabbe, Goyle, and Maurice, eyes closed. "Besides, Potter's not even the most annoying of the Gryffindors."

"There's nothing wrong with Roemers, despite the fact that he's a Gryffindor," Draco said, rolling his eyes. "At least he's not favored for no reason at all."

Jack snorted. "Yeah, he's not favored at all. Oh, except the fact that he's blond, good-looking, and already bragging about how he's going to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch team – speaking of Quidditch, d'you know when the tryouts are?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to be Seeker," Draco said loftily. "My father will buy brooms for the entire team, so they have to pick me. Why, you interested? I'm sure you could bribe them into letting you on, too. Hm, there's a free Beater spot…"

Jack shook his head. He was sitting up now, blue eyes open and shining. "No, I just wanted to… know, I guess…"

"We had our first flying lesson today! Madam Hooch says that me and Roger and… this Gryffindor girl might be able to go up to the pitch next time!" Maurice said, suddenly extremely excited. Of course, it didn't take much to set Maurice off.

"What did the girl look like? Red hair, and a hand-me-down robe?" Draco asked. Maurice thought for a bit, then nodded. "Must be a Weasley. Her older brothers are on the Quidditch team. Beaters. They would be okay, but their brooms are too old for them to do much damage. The Weasley's have no money whatsoever, and they're just a bunch of blood traitors. Roger, sit down, you look like an idiot just standing there."

Roger was going to point out that Draco was just standing there as well, but instead decided to just sit down on Jack's couch. Just like when he'd sat down on the train, Jack looked at him for an unnervingly long time. Roger swallowed and looked away, feeling heat rise to his face for probably the fiftieth time that day. He was unused to people paying attention to him. It was weird.

* * *

**This is basically my favorite chapter so far. :D I don't know why. But it was fun to write. We should be getting to the plot sometime, I think…uh… in four chapters? Cx But, you know, whatever. **


	5. Chapter Five: Listening In

Sadly, the Slytherin Quidditch tryouts were at an undisclosed time and only a select few were told about it. Among them was Draco Malfoy. Apparently his father's bribe had come through; for he would tell anyone he could at the breakfast table that he was the new Slytherin Seeker.

Harold seemed quite apathetic to this news; in fact, Harold seemed quite apathetic about everything. Maurice rarely saw him, apart from classes. While Maurice and Roger would sit in the common room and talk with Jack, Draco, and the minions for a while (with Blaise and Theodore occasionally joining them), Harold went straight up to bed, and was asleep by the time they got up.

Maurice was pretty sure the only reason he was still conscious was because of sugar and naps during boring classes. Roger seemed to need no sleep, as he was almost exactly the same as when he got to Hogwarts about a week or so ago. Thankfully, it was the weekend, and today they could do whatever they wanted.

They should _probably _do some homework… nah, they could do that tomorrow. Slytherins had the Quidditch pitch today – Maurice had seen Marcus Flint, a boy that looked like he'd been hit in the face with a bludger more than recommended, waving around a piece of paper and crowing to his friends that 'Wood will be pissed!' – so maybe they could watch the practice. He mentioned the idea to Jack, who was looking sullen and picking at his bacon.

Jack brightened instantly. "I'd love to see the face on Roemers' face when he sees that we've got the pitch!" he hissed. "I heard he's become a new chaser. Spinnet quit the team for some reason or another."

"Who is this mysterious 'Roemers' you keep speaking of?" Maurice asked. Jack narrowed his eyes.

"Ralph Roemers is only the most irritatingly perfect person in the universe," he said. "He's in Gryffindor, of course, he's totally the stereotypical Gryffindor. See him? He's just over there… the blond one."

Maurice strained his eyes and could make out two blond Gryffindors, one talking in a very loud, very fast Irish accent. "Which one?" he asked.

"Not the Irish half-blood; he's the other, handsomer one," Jack said. Maurice nodded slowly, and before he could say anything more, Roger got up from the table, his cup in his hands. "What are you doing?"

"You hate him, don't you?" Roger asked. Jack bit his lip and nodded. A hint of a smirk passed over Roger's face, and the short Slytherin moved through the Great Hall quickly, passing the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables without a second glance. Soon, all of the Slytherin first and second years were watching as he flitted through the crowed, eventually coming to stand behind Ralph.

Quickly, with no hesitation, Roger dumped the contents of his cup onto the blond's head. Not waiting for Ralph to turn and see him, he raced back the Slytherin table. Maurice couldn't hold back a giggle as juice dripped down off of his blond hair onto his face. Ralph whipped around – effectively hitting the Irish blond in the face – and glared at the Slytherin table. Jack smirked. Eventually, with a tug on his sleeve from the Irish blond, Ralph turned back to his breakfast.

Ralph didn't get to finish his breakfast, however, because almost as soon as he turned back around, who could only be Oliver Wood raced into the Hall and toward him. "Roemers! What are you doing? We've got Quidditch practice!" he yelled. "You've missed the plans! Now we'll probably have to go over them again!"

Ralph got up quickly, and the two Gryffindors left the Great Hall. There was a grin larger than Maurice had ever seen on anyone's face on Jack's. "Thank you," he said to Roger. Roger shrugged.

"Why not?"

A few more minutes at the breakfast table, and then the Slytherin team decided that they were going to head to change for practice. "It's always best to give them time to get their hopes up," Draco said.

"Let's follow them," Jack said, standing up. "Nott, Zabini, Yaxley, do you want to come?"

Zabini decided that he would tag along, and then the four of them followed their Quidditch team. Maurice bounced along beside Roger. "It's fun being the evil people, isn't it?" he said. Roger rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Fun."

They had to wait a while before the big showdown happened. Jack was practically leaning over the side of the stands to get a glimpse of his 'mortal enemy.' Eventually, the Gryffindor Quidditch team showed up.

"Roemers," Jack hissed. Ralph glanced up, narrowed his eyes, and replied with a similarly-toned 'Merridew.'

"Slytherins! What are you doing here?" Wood barked, shoving aside Ralph. It was Roger that saved them.

"Attacking this Gryffindor first year," he muttered, yanking the camera from a small Gryffindor's hand and passing it to Maurice. Maurice, being about half a foot taller than either Roger or the random Gryffindor, held it above his head. The first year jumped to try and get it, and Maurice grinned at Roger.

Wood shrugged. "Oh, okay then," he said, and then the team kicked off from the ground and began to practice. Maurice, seeing no reason not to, gave the camera back to the little Gryffindor. Blaise snorted.

"What?" Maurice asked, watching the Gryffindor scurry away from them.

"First of all, Wood's an idiot. Secondly, you gave it back?"

"Hey, being evil is fun, but it's hard to be evil all the time. And shut up Roger, it's in your blood," Maurice said when he saw Roger start to open his mouth. Roger glared at him, crossing his arms and sitting down beside Jack, who was still busy glaring at Ralph.

That obsession was unhealthy.

They dropped into silence, Roger glaring at Maurice – he probably shouldn't have said that, huh? – and Jack glaring at Ralph Roemers. To be honest, Ralph Roemers didn't seem like that bad of a person, despite being annoyingly good-looking.

"Here they come," Blaise said, a grin splitting his dark face. Maurice craned his neck, and, sure enough, there came the green-clad Slytherins. Hey, if you put Jack in the Slytherin Quidditch robes, he'd look like the Muggle representation of a leprechaun!

Oliver Wood looked _very _angry once he got down from his broom. Maurice scrambled down the stands to stand closer, so he could hear what they were saying clearly enough for it to be funny.

"Flint! This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

Maurice, though he didn't want to get too close to Marcus Flint, had to move a few steps closer – accidentally bumping into Jack, who was still glaring at Ralph – to hear the captain's low reply. "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."

Maurice couldn't hold back a grin as Wood continued yelling at the larger teenager. Flint remained calm, producing a piece of paper and announced "I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker."

Maurice spotted Draco at the back, behind all of his much larger – well, except one dark-skinned boy wielding a Beaters' bat – teammates. He waved. Draco was smirking.

"You've got a new Seeker?" Wood asked. Maurice was slightly fascinated by how easily the shorter captain was distracted. Just a few moments ago he'd been practically screaming at Flint, and now here he was, asking about the new Seeker. "Who?"

They'd obviously rehearsed the dramatic entrance. Sure, there was no complicated choreography, but it was still too smooth to be spur-of-the-moment. Draco strolled through the ranks of the Slytherin Quidditch team and coming to stand beside Flint.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," Flint said. The entire Slytherin Quidditch team grinned. Maurice noted all of their slightly insane-looking grins. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

Maurice couldn't hold back a gasp at the Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones that the Slytherins were holding. Sure, Draco had said that his father was giving the entire team new brooms, but how rich did you have to be to get seven people the _latest_ model of the _best _broom? Sure, Maurice's family wasn't poor by any standards, but a broom like that… he would be _lucky _to get one for Christmas – hey, maybe he would! – but his family would never buy a entire set just so he could get on the Quidditch team.

He'd missed the conversation that had followed, but now two more Gryffindors – a redhead and a bushy-haired brunette – were crossing the Quidditch pitch. Hey, where was Roger?

Oh, there he was, still sitting up in the stands, pestering the Gryffindor first year.

"What's happening?" the redhead asked. "Why aren't you playing? And what's _he _doing here?"

"Ronald Weasley," Jack muttered to Maurice, who obviously looked confused. "He's in my year."

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," Draco said. Maurice couldn't help but notice that he looked incredibly smug. For good reason; _he had the greatest broom in the universe. _"Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

Ronald Weasley had good taste in brooms. He didn't say anything after that… until Draco called the bushy-haired girl ("Hermione Granger. Muggleborn." was Jack's introduction of her) a mudblood.

The redhaired twins looked like they wanted to murder Draco, Ralph gaped, and Ronald Weasley brought out his wand.

The next thing Maurice saw was a group of slimy, silvery slugs. "Ew,"' he said, wrinkling his nose. The small, dark-skinned Beater laughed, spurring on the rest of the Slytherin team to start up. And it didn't look faked, either. Draco's face had gone red again, and Marcus Flint could barely stand.

The little Gryffindor had escaped Roger and was running toward them, waving his slightly scratched-up camera. "What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can't you? Oooh, can you hold him still, Harry?"

For the first time, Maurice fully realized that _Harry Potter _was standing just a few feet away from him. He pretended he didn't care, but couldn't stop a huge grin from spreading over his face. Given his Slytherin robes, people would probably think he was laughing at poor Ronald Weasley and the slugs.

"Get out of the way, Colin!"

Ah, so his name was Colin. Good to know. His year, Gryffindor, named Colin.

And then Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger left, and the excitement left with them. Maurice sighed and looked up to Roger… who wasn't there anymore. Well. That was lovely. Now he was stuck here with Jack Merridew – who was kind of nice, except his weird little problem with Ralph Roemers – and Blaise Zabini, who he knew not at all.

Of course, he barely knew Roger, but Roger _was _his best friend.

Maybe he could go visit his brother! Ernie was probably eating breakfast still, he always liked to sleep in on the weekends. Maurice skipped away, leaving a slightly-freaked-out Blaise and still-glaring-at-Ralph Jack behind him.

* * *

**A lot of people have been asking if Jack is gay. Cx **

**Well... uh... I'm not quite sure. He does _like _one of the girls in his house, but... he's not gay for Roger, if that's what you're asking.  
**

**That'll work as an explanation, right?  
**


	6. Chapter Six: Encounter

That Sunday was a lazy one; all Simon, Luna, and Piggy had to do was a bit of homework that wasn't due for a long while – at least, Simon's and Luna's wasn't due for a long while. She had no idea about Piggy's. Honestly, she didn't care about Piggy's much. Piggy was just with them so that he had friends.

But before she worked on her homework, she needed to read the letter from Daddy she'd gotten that morning. So, while Simon searched for the books they needed to research their essays, Luna opened up the letter.

_Dear Luna,_

_I have done research on the Greyback family, and, in addition to Fenrir being a werewolf, they are also quite musically inclined! Try and get your Greyback to sing to you sometime, or perhaps get him to play Quidditch – he'll want to sing and you will hear!_

_Or maybe that's the Merridews…_

_I am sorry it took so long to respond; after all, school has been going on for almost a month! However, in addition to the Greybacks, I've been researching nargles. When you come home for Christmas I fully expect to have a plethora of Nargle-hunting gear to use. It will be fantastic father/daughter bonding time. _

_It's good to hear that you're making new friends. Simon sounds like a lovely boy. I hope you make dozens of friends that you can invite over for your birthday celebration in June. But don't try for more than seven Gryffindors; they tend to get a bit crazy. _

_Signed,_

_Your favorite father_

Luna smiled at the letter and decided to write back after she'd gotten at least a start on her essay. Nargle-hunting would be fun. Perhaps she could bring Simon home with her so he could go nargle-hunting with them. That would be nice.

Speaking of Simon, he was taking a long time. Luna decided that she probably should check out what was going on; after all, what if a large book had fallen from one of the higher shelves and had knocked Simon unconscious? That wouldn't be good. Luna knew that, if you left someone unconscious too long, bad things started to happen to their mind. She suspected that the Wrackspurts had something to do with it.

But a large book hadn't fallen and knocked Simon unconscious. No, it was worse. Simon was _trapped_ by a group of mean-looking Slytherins. He looked scared. Luna would probably be scared, too, if Slytherins of that size were trapping her against the bookshelf.

Luna didn't know what to do.

It would be smartest to go get a teacher, but who knew what would happen in the time it took her to? Maybe… maybe she could go ask Piggy to. Yes, she'd do that, and then she'd figure out what else to do.

Luna slipped away, unseen by any of the Slytherins and back to Piggy. "Go get a teacher!" she hissed. "Hurry!"

She didn't let Piggy have any time to ask questions, and he ran. It would have been a rather comical scene, had Luna not been so worried for Simon.

Now she needed to do something to help Simon. She didn't know what she could do – after all, she was only a first year.

What about _Wingardium Leviosa?_

Luna peeked around the corner. The Slytherins seemed to be just trying to scare Simon, but Luna didn't want them to do anything bad. She didn't want them to hurt Simon. That wouldn't be nice.

Wait a minute – there was Roger Greyback and his friend.

Maybe she could convince them to convince the other Slytherins to stop being mean to Simon. Luna slipped around the other Slytherins basically unnoticed – she did accidentally run into one of the two gigantic ones, but he took no notice of her. She wondered if his nervous system was working properly.

"Can you tell them to stop, please?" Luna asked Roger's friend, because he seemed like a nice person. And also she'd heard that he had a brother in Hufflepuff, and Hufflepuffs were nice people, generally. Roger's friend looked at her.

"You look familiar… you're in our year, aren't you?" he asked. Luna nodded, and he smiled suddenly. "I'm Maurice Macmillan, and this is Roger. He doesn't like people knowing his last name because then they don't like him."

"Shut up, Maurice," Roger muttered, crossing his arms. Luna looked at him curiously, then remembered that she should probably introduce herself.

"I'm Luna Lovegood," she said. Maurice grinned again.

"Alliterative names unite!" he said. Luna smiled. She kind of liked this boy. He was nicer that she'd expect a Slytherin to be. "But, um, is he a friend of yours? That little Ravenclaw, I mean."

"Yes, that's Simon," Luna said. Maurice nodded, then walked over to the redheaded Slytherin. Luna watched as he whispered something in the only-slightly-taller Slytherin's ear, and then the redhead turned to the blond. The blond sneered.

"He's just a filthy little mudblood anyway," the blond said, dropping the book that he'd probably taken from Simon and stalking away. The rest of the Slytherins – except Maurice and Roger for some weird reason – left with him. Maurice skipped – Luna hadn't seen anyone but herself skip around Hogwarts – back to them.

"There you go!" he said cheerfully. "Wow, I'm hungry."

"Then go eat something," Roger muttered. Though Maurice was very nice, Luna couldn't help but be intrigued by Roger. _And he was related to a werewolf._

"I've got an amazing idea! Come here, random Luna's friend!"

Simon approached them, biting his lip. "Hi," he said, swallowing. "My name's Simon."

"I'm Maurice, this is Roger, and Luna's your friend so of course you know her," Maurice said. "I was thinking we could have a picnic! Like, grab some food from the Great Hall – lunch's going on right now, that's where Jack and the others went – and then go sit somewhere on the grounds?"

Luna blinked. Maurice was a very odd person. Roger apparently thought the same, because he began to mutter under his breath again. It was something about how 'Maurice was an idiot and Jack was going to think that they _liked _mudbloods and then he'd tell Draco and then they'd have to be antisocial like Harold.'

Luna wondered who Harold was.

Eventually Maurice's winning ways won out and the four set off for the Great Hall. Simon and Maurice went to go get some food, leaving Luna and Roger in an awkward silence. Luna glanced at him every few seconds, studying him. Hedidn't _look_ like a werewolf. Maybe he wasn't actually related to Fenrir Greyback. Maybe she should ask him.

"Are you related to Fenrir Greyback?"

He jumped. "Yes," he said, offering no further explanation. Luna was going to ask him more questions, but just then Maurice and Simon returned, bearing food and a random Slytherin boy that she'd never seen before in her life.

"This is Harold!" Maurice said. "We stole him from the table because he was looking too miserable."

Harold did look quite miserable.

Maurice led them across the grounds, babbling and teasing all of them. He seemed to have no inhibitions at all. Luna liked that about him. She wondered how he'd ended up in Slytherin, where everyone was either like Roger and Harold – antisocial and evil-looking – or Jack Merridew and Draco Malfoy – mean and pure-blood supremacist.

She ended up sitting between Roger and Simon on the grass. "Can you pass me a sandwich?" she asked Roger. Roger, who looked like he'd been daydreaming, jumped and handed her the sandwich at the top of the pile. Their fingers brushed and he jerked his hand away. She could see the faint red of a blush under his darkish skin.

She hoped she would see more of Roger.

* * *

**And this is kind of where Luna and Roger start to interact a little. :) Hooray!**


	7. Chapter Seven: Jack's Master Plan

It seemed that he was woken up every morning by Maurice bouncing up and down on his bed. And it was a Saturday, too. Roger was thankful for the inevitable shoe from Harold. "What do you want this time, Maurice?" Roger asked, yawning and propping himself up on his elbows.

"It's Jack that wants you this time!" Maurice said, throwing the shoe back to Harold and rubbing the side of his head where the shoe had hit him. Harold had gotten better aim as the days went on. It was nearly Halloween. They'd been at Hogwarts for _nearly two whole months. _

This news was mind-boggling to Roger, especially since he actually had a few friends. There was Maurice, of course, and then Jack… if he was to be so bold as to call Jack his friend. And if Jack was the one who 'wanted him this time', then maybe Jack was his friend. This thought made Roger smile.

Maurice looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah," Roger said, shaking his head free of those weird thoughts of friendship and getting out of bed. He shivered as his bare feet touched the floor. It was incredibly freezing cold, as usual.

"Get dressed!" Maurice commanded. "Jack needs you now! I'll tie your tie because you suck at it!"

"Why do I need my tie? There's no classes-"

"Slytherin pride! Jack said to wear a shirt, pants, shoes, and your tie," Maurice said, nodding and holding out his own tie. Roger sighed and got dressed, Maurice tying the tie. They were uncomfortably close for that minute or so – as much as Maurice complained at Roger's lack of tie-tying skills, he was pretty bad himself – and then they headed downstairs. Jack was there, finishing wrapping a scarf around his neck.

"It's cold today," he informed them. Maurice shrugged.

"I like the cold," he said. Roger kept quiet. He didn't have a scarf, and he'd dealt with the cold before, so he would pretend he was like Maurice. Or at least, that's what he told himself until Jack looked at him for an explination.

"I don't have a scarf or anything like that. Well, I have a winter cloak, but other than that…" Roger said, shrugging. Draco Malfoy, who was passing them on his way to an early breakfast, entered their conversation for a moment.

"I'll get you one for Christmas. _I _get all of my scarves hand-made and imported, just like all of my other clothes," he said, sticking his nose in the air and sauntering away. Roger blinked. That was possibly the weirdest thing he'd ever seen.

"Anyway, let's go," Jack said. "The Gryffindors have a really early Quidditch practice, and we're going to go turn some of Roemers's stuff Slytherin colors."

Roger kind of wondered why Jack had decided on taking him and Maurice instead of, say, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, but he didn't question anything. Roger had realized long ago that everything was much simpler if you didn't question anything.

"That's simple and not very fun," Maurice observed. Jack's eyes narrowed a fraction.

"Oh, it'll be _very _fun," he said, his voice dangerously fun. "We will _make _it fun. We will have fun in that changing room, you hear?"

"Uh… okay…" Maurice said, dropping back to walk beside Roger. "He's kind of freaking me out."

Roger shrugged. He had a feeling that Jack could hear every word they were saying, and while Jack was acting a little different than usual, there was nothing wrong with him. Probably.

Eventually, they made it to the Gryffindor changing room. It was unlocked. As soon as they stepped inside, Jack began going through all of the clothes strewn on the floor.

There were lockers, and Roger suspected that the girls on the Gryffindor Quidditch team were the ones to fold their clothes and put them in there, but most of the clothes were just on the floor. Roger seriously had no idea how Jack was planning on telling Ralph's clothes apart from, say, Harry Potter's.

Roger mostly stayed by the door while Maurice poked random things with his wand and Jack worked at turning Ralph's – and probably Potter's, too – clothing green. It was calm for a while. And then all hell broke loose when Maurice said, "Hey, what does this button do?"

With far less drama than it should have had, a bludger rocketed out of its place and began to knock around the room. Maurice hid under a bench. Jack stood there, frozen, as the bludger sped at his face.

Roger grabbed a spare Beater's bat and whacked it away from Jack. This happened a few more times, until it shot out the door just as the Gryffindor Quidditch team came back. Lucky for them, none of them got hit on the bludger's way out.

Oliver Wood took one look at the Slytherins and exploded. Obviously seeing Roger as the biggest threat – no surprise there, seeing as Maurice was cowering under a bench, Jack was paper-white and pressed against a wall, and Roger was deadly calm and holding a Beater's bat – he went for the first year, grabbing him by the front of the shirt.

"Who are you, why are you here-" The bludger came back then, hitting one of the orange-haired twins in the back of the head with a _thunk! _"And _what did you just do to my beater?"_

Roger swallowed and dropped the bat. Harry Potter and one of the girls wrestled the bludger back into its box. The other orange-haired twin cried out and knelt beside his brother. Oliver Wood glared down at Roger, demanding an answer. Roger swallowed and dropped the Beater's bat.

"Uh-um…" he said. "I…"

Weirdly enough, he was rescued by Ralph Roemers. The blond jogged into the changing room, Quaffle under his arm. "Hey guys, I found the- _Merridew."_

Jack, who had gotten some of his color back, managed to spit back a "_Roemers."_

Wood, clearly confused, glanced at each of the second years in turn. "You two know each other?" he asked Roemers. Roemers nodded. Jack muttered 'unfortunately' under his breath. Wood rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to Roger.

"Who are you?"

"R-roger."

"Year? You're tiny, you must be a first year. Why are you here?"

"Um…" Roger glanced at Jack, who shrugged. "I'm…"

"Wood, we need to get him to the Hospital Wing," one of the girls said. Wood glanced at the conscious twin and then to Maurice, who was still cowering.

"Weasley, you and… this kid take your brother to the Hospital Wing," he said. Maurice swallowed and stood up, banging his head on the underside of the bench. Roger rolled his eyes and the two left, carting the Gryffindor between them.

"So now what?" Jack asked, getting over the whole bludger incident. "I don't have all day."

Wood let go of Roger and turned on Jack. "_It's your fault you're here!" _

Jack swallowed and nodded. "We'll just be going now. Come on, Roger," Jack said, slipping through the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Roger followed, 'accidentally' ramming into Ralph on his way out. For some reason – and not Jack's reason, he didn't give a damn if the boy was attractive – he really didn't like Ralph. At all.

Roger, uncommunicative by nature, said nothing. Jack was quiet for a while, and then began to rant about Ralph Roemers. "I don't _believe_ it! He's on the Quidditch team? I doubt he's even good! I bet they just used him because… because…"

They were saved by Maurice, who looked to have sprinted down from the Hospital Wing. "I… am tired," he gasped. "At least Halloween's soon, right? I can't wait for that-"

"Shut up Maurice," Jack said, sighing. He stalked away from them, muttering something about how, 'Draco gets stupid minions, why do I get the creepy one and the one that _never shuts up?'_

"I call never shuts up," Maurice said once Jack was out of earshot. Roger rolled his eyes again. "Hey, do you wanna see if Luna and Simon are busy? Maybe we could hang out with them! I kind of like them – Luna's kinda pretty, don't you think?"

Roger flushed. "I… I don't think about that sort of thing," he said, staring at his shoes. It was true; he didn't really think about the attractiveness of people. But when Maurice mentioned it, it made him feel uncomfortable.

When he looked up again Maurice was grinning the grin he always grinned when he thought he was right. Roger rolled his eyes and pushed past his friend toward the Slytherin common room. He had some homework he needed to finish.

But of course everything had to be against him. He ran into – literally ran into – Luna Lovegood on his way back to the common room. They both fell down, landing in a very awkward position. Roger caught himself with his hands on either side of her head and flushed. She just looked up at him in that dreamy way of hers, and he scrambled off, grabbed his books, and left as quickly as he could.

* * *

**Once again, thanks for all the reviews and such. :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Chapter Eight: Halloween

To be fair, Maurice did wait until seven to wake up Roger on Halloween. And then Harold, like every other morning, threw a shoe at his head. Maurice ducked, Roger registered his usual complaints, Maurice forced Roger to get dressed, and they went down to breakfast.

Maurice couldn't have been more excited about the Halloween feast, which was to happen that night. It sounded completely fabulous and full of sweets.

The day was quite boring. Roger insisted on working on his homework, because 'there's nothing else to do, why don't we just _do _it?'

Instead of doing homework, Maurice decided to draw a picture. Maurice liked to draw, though he wasn't very good. Once he was done with his masterpiece, he showed it to Roger.

"What's that supposed to be?" Roger asked, looking at it skeptically.

"There's you, and you're hitting a bludger at Ralph Roemer's face, and Jack's in the background, grinning evilly, and also that's Luna Lovegood as your cheerleader," Maurice said matter-of-factly. Roger contemplated the picture for a bit, then took it from Maurice and ripped it to shreds. "Hey!"

Roger ignored him and went back to his homework.

Maurice worked on seeing how far he could _Wingardium Leviosa _his quill. It ended up hitting Goyle in the face. Goyle didn't notice, but Crabbe did, and the two walked over to them. "Oops," Maurice said under his breath.

Roger glanced up from his Transfiguration homework. "What?" he asked.

"Greyback, Macmillan…" Crabbe said. "D'ya wanna help us terrorize Mudbloods?"

Roger shrugged and stood up, shoving his half-completed homework into his bag. "Why not? Coming, Maurice?"

Maurice grinned and stood up. "Yeah, sure, I just need to get my quill."

The other three left him to find his quill, which had bounced off of Goyle's head and ended up underneath a couch. Maurice was covered in dust by the time he got it – what was up with the house-elves? Why weren't they cleaning properly?

Well, that didn't really matter. He was pretty sure that they weren't going to be waiting for him, so he'd have to hurry. He saw Harold on his way out and dragged him along, too, despite the other boy's protests.

"Where could they be…" Maurice muttered, keeping a tight hold on Harold's arm. The last time he'd kidnapped – erm, included – Harold in one of their little expeditions, he'd run away first chance he got. Maurice wanted everyone to have fun at Hogwarts, even if it was by force.

Huh. Maybe he shouldn't have been a Slytherin.

"Well, even if we can't find them, we can watch people decorate the Great Hall," Maurice decided. "I heard that there were going to be dancing skeletons this year! Have you ever seen dancing skeletons? I haven't. Do you think there really will be? I hope there's lots of sweets-"

"You're giving me a headache," Harold said, interrupting him.

"You can talk!" Maurice said, hugging the other boy. "I don't think I've ever heard you say anything above a mutter!"

Harold was rigid under Maurice's grip. "Please let go of me."

"Yeah, yeah, okay, you can go do whatever now," Maurice said, letting go of Harold and waving his hand. Harold headed back for the common room, and Maurice went on to the Great Hall alone.

Once there, he saw Roger, Crabbe, and Goyle shoving that one Gryffindor first year – Colin, right? – into a pumpkin. Maurice giggled and joined them. "Having fun?" he asked Roger, who nodded.

Of course, then Professor McGonagall showed up and saved Colin. Thirty points were deducted from Slytherin. Maurice sighed happily as they exited the Great Hall. "That was fun," he said, slinging his arms around Roger's and Crabbe's necks. "So, what're we gonna do for the rest of the day?"

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, and soon it was feast time. Maurice was practically exploding with excitement. "And I'm gonna have loads and loads and _loads _of sweets! I'm not gonna eat anything that isn't at least fifty percent sugar! _And it's going to be amazing!"_

Everyone edged away from him. Maurice took no notice of this. Roger had to hold him back to stop him from trampling everyone to get to the Great Hall. "Aren't you _excited?" _Maurice asked, looking back at him. Roger rolled his eyes.

"Sure, but I'm not going to go kill people to get there. There'll be plenty of food. Look, there's Jack!" Roger said, effectively changing the subject. Maurice waved to the redhead and dragged Roger over to him.

"Is he okay?" Jack asked Roger. Roger shrugged, and Jack rolled his eyes. "Whatever, let's get going."

Roger had held them back from all of the other Slytherins, and now they were caught in with the Ravenclaws. They ended up near Luna, Simon, and their fat friend. "Hi Luna, Simon, and fat friend!" Maurice said cheerfully. Fat friend looked at him.

"My name is-"

"His name's Piggy," Luna said, smiling dreamily. Maurice glanced at Roger. Roger was blushing, for some weird reason – ooh, he was walking right beside Luna. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Jack," Maurice said. Jack nodded, glancing at each of the Ravenclaws in turn. With that, he grabbed Roger and Maurice and plowed to the front. "Hey!"

"That's the little Mudblood," he hissed. "The girl's… well, she's at least a halfblood, her father runs a completely insane newspaper or something called 'The Quibbler.'"

"Roger likes her," Maurice informed Jack. Roger turned redder than he already was.

"I- no- shut up Maurice," he muttered, stomping away from the two. Maurice grinned and followed.

The feast was even more than he had imagined. There were sweets _everywhere, _and it wasn't even dessert time! It looked simply amazing! Maurice wedged himself in between Roger and Harold, grinning brightly at both of them.

If there were dancing skeletons, Maurice didn't know, because he was too focused on eating. "It's a mystery why he isn't as big as Fatty back there," Jack said, staring at him. Maurice grinned at the redhead through a mouthful of candy. Jack shuddered.

"Potter's not here," Draco said, interrupting their incredibly gripping conversation.

Maurice looked over to the Gryffindor table and, no, Harry Potter didn't seem to be there. That was interesting, he supposed. But who cared about Harry Potter when there was _this much candy?_

"Maurice, we have to go," Roger said. Maurice glanced up. Everyone was leaving. Wow. He'd been really immersed in the candy, which he realized was now disappearing. Maurice bounced to his feet and followed the crowd.

Eventually, the crowd stopped. Maurice grabbed Roger's hand and the two slipped through the crowd until they were even with Jack, Draco, and the like.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"I don't get it," Maurice said, turning his head to the side and looking at the words. "Is that blood?"

Like usual, everybody ignored him. Harry Potter and his friends were standing near the probably-blood words and the cat. Whoa, was that Mrs. Norris? What was wrong with her?

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, mudbloods!" Draco called out. Maurice looked at him. He looked a little nervous, though he sounded confident. Filch showed up, and Maurice grabbed Roger's hand again.

"Let's head back to the dorms," he muttered. Roger nodded, glancing at the stiff cat one last time.

It was quiet most of the way back. Roger hadn't pulled his hand out of Maurice's yet, and he looked to be thinking. "Do you think it could be Harold?"

Maurice jumped. "What? Who?"

"The heir. He wasn't at the feast, remember?"

Maurice scoffed. "I bet he'll be sleeping when we get back. That's all he does. He's not 'the heir.' And that wasn't his handwriting, either. You're insane."

* * *

**Hooray, a plot! :D**

**And also - Samneric will be popping up soon-ish. A few chapters.  
**

**And Ralph's more friends with Seamus and Dean. Yeah. He's friends with them.  
**


	9. Chapter Nine: Psychotic Werewolf Freak

_Dear Daddy,_

_Apparently the heir of Slytherin is at Hogwarts! Isn't that exciting for my first year? But Simon's a little scared; probably because of one Slytherin's comments about how Muggleborns will be attacked next. Do you know who the heir of Slytherin is? _

_Piggy borrowed Hogwarts: A History from the library so that we could learn a little about The Chamber of Secrets, but what little information was in there was quite disappointing. Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets? _

_Anyway, I'm going to help Piggy comfort Simon now. _

_Your loving daughter,_

_Luna._

"It'll be okay," Luna said. Simon swallowed and nodded, but he still looked pale. So did Piggy. Was he Muggleborn, too? Probably. He had a lot of weird muggle items. "I'm sure it was only a… a joke."

"Would a joke be able to petrify Mrs. Norris?" Piggy snapped. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and continued. "It's not a joke. It's a monster, and now it's going to get me'n'Simon!"

"Want to know who the heir _really _is?"

Luna looked up. Bill – his name was Bill, right? – stood over their little group, smirk on his handsome face. "Yes," Simon said. He sounded nearly hysterical.

Bill pulled a hard-backed chair out of a table nearby and sat on it backwards. _That's an odd habit, _Luna thought. "It's Potter. Harry Potter. Robert says that Justin Flinch-Fletchley says that Potter set a snake on him during a dueling class."

"But- Harry Potter- he- that's absurd!" Piggy sputtered, pushing his glasses up on his nose again. Bill smirked.

"Believe what you like. But I get my information from very credible sources," he said, standing up. He dipped his head to Luna. "Adieu."

"I don't like him," Piggy muttered. "He always makes fun of me for my specs."

"I think he's nice," Luna said, watching him walk across the common room to talk to a different group.

"Yeah, but you like Roger Greyback," Piggy said, making a face. Simon giggled, and Piggy looked at him. "What?"

"You're funny," Simon said, yawning. He did look tired, now that Luna looked closer at him. He slumped further down into the couch and closed his eyes. Well, maybe she could get some exploring in if Simon was sleeping and Piggy was muttering about Bill.

The corridors were almost empty – probably because of the heir of Slytherin lurking around. Luna didn't really believe that it could be Harry Potter, but you never knew. Bill could be the heir of Slytherin. Roger could be the heir of Slytherin. The Slytherin Quidditch captain could be the heir of Slytherin.

"Hey, Luna!"

There was Bill now. Luna turned around, more than a bit surprised. What was Bill doing here? Wasn't he busy spreading rumors in the common room?

"Hello Bill," Luna said. Bill grinned.

"Wanna go eat lunch? I mean, since your friends are busy and all," he offered. Luna blinked. Was he actually asking her to eat lunch with him? But… everybody ignored/thought Luna was insane, apart from Simon and Piggy. Bill had lots of friends, and everybody liked him.

"Okay," Luna decided, still a bit unsure. He smirked and walked toward the Great Hall. Luna followed.

Roger and Maurice were already there, sitting at the Slytherin table with a reluctant Harold. Maurice waved to her, and she waved back. Bill glanced at her. "Who's that?"

"Maurice Macmillan," Luna said. Bill looked at him.

"Doesn't he have a brother in Hufflepuff? Ernie?"

"I think so," Luna said.

The first part of their lunch went rather well. Bill liked to talk, so she didn't drive him away with her Wrackspurts and Nargles. By the time things started to go wrong, she knew all of the gossip of all four houses.

And then she learned that Roger got jealous very easily.

Bill stood up, stretching. "That was nice," he said, grinning. "We'll have to-"

Roger, who had somehow gotten over here from his place at the end of the Slytherin table, punched Bill in the face. Luna watched, wide-eyed, as Bill wiped blood from his nose and tackled the smaller boy.

Roger was incredibly resourceful and fast, however, and Bill really didn't stand a chance. By the time a teacher got over to break it up, Roger was sitting on Bill's chest, hitting him in the face.

Professor Lockhart was the one to break them up, weirdly enough. He lifted Roger off of Bill and offered to help Bill clean up.

"No! And you-" he turned his glare to Luna. "I liked you! But you've got this _psychotic werewolf freak _hanging around you all the time! It's like you attract weirdness! I'm done!"

He stomped off, wiping more blood and tears from his face. Luna swallowed and glanced at Roger. He was back by Maurice and Harold, and while he never really looked happy, he kind of did now.

"Doesn't it bother you that he called you a psychotic werewolf freak?" she heard Maurice ask as she exited the Great Hall.

"Hm? Oh, I didn't hear him."

"He was screaming it. I'm pretty sure everyone heard it."

* * *

**Oh look short chapter. :P But, you know, whatever. :D**


	10. Chapter Ten: Maurice the Matchmaker

Roger honestly didn't know why he'd attacked that random Ravenclaw yesterday; he'd just had a feeling that he _should. _And it had been exhilarating. He loved attacking people, he loved hurting people…

He really was a horrible person, wasn't he?

At least if he was a werewolf he'd have some sort of excuse, but, no, he was just Roger Greyback, the grandson of Fenrir Greyback, Slytherin first year, and now proclaimed 'psychotic werewolf freak.'

At least Jack had been impressed when he'd learned of what had happened. "Bill's a pureblood, but last year he told everyone things about me," he'd said. Of course, he hadn't explained what those things had been, but then again, Roger hadn't really expected him to.

Roger was looking forward to a nice, relaxing night in the common room, but apparently that wasn't on Maurice's schedule. "Come, Roger!" he said, grabbing Roger's hand and pulling him away from the dungeons.

"Maurice, I don't want to- I just- _Maurice_!" Roger yelped as he was shoved into a broom closet. It had been cleaned out, but he very nearly missed landing on a pile of food that had obviously been smuggled out of the Great Hall under Maurice's shirt.

Roger really wasn't sure why Maurice smuggled food out under his shirt, seeing as he could just wrap it up in a napkin and leave, but, whatever.

Soon, none other than Luna Lovegood was shown into the closet.

"None of this was my idea," Roger said. "Maurice pushed me in here. I just wanted to go back to the common room."

Luna smiled at him. "It's nice."

She didn't say anything about the Bill incident the other day, instead observed the pile of food. "Ooh, he really did get a variety, didn't he?" she said, picking up a piece of chicken.

Roger rolled his eyes. Yeah. He'd certainly gotten a variety. And was insane. And was also going to be dead once Roger got out of there.

"So what is the Slytherin common room like?" Luna asked. Roger glanced at her. She actually looked genuinely interested. This made him slightly uncomfortable, so he shifted a bit further away from her, nearly knocking a broom onto his head.

"Um. Grey. Couches. Fire. Stuff like that," Roger said, feeling heat flood his face.

"It's probably the same up in the Ravenclaw common room. It's the people that are the really interesting bit, though, don't you think? There are people that wander around and talk, people who keep to themselves, people who just hate everybody…" Luna trailed off, looking at him.

"So which one are you?"

"Hm?"

Roger turned red and repeated his question. Hopefully the single candle that lit the room was dim enough so that she didn't notice. "What kind of person are you?"

Luna bit her lip. "Well, I don't know. Perhaps… I do like to be by myself sometimes, but I have friends like Simon and Piggy. What about you?"

"I wish everyone would leave me alone," he muttered. "But I'm stuck with Maurice. And Jack has 'made me his minion.' And by becoming Jack's minion, I'm also stuck with Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle."

Luna nodded. "I kind of understand what you mean there. If I was around people like Crabbe and Goyle all the time, I'd want to be alone, too."

"No, you don't _understand_. It doesn't matter what kind of person it is, I just don't want to be around them. Everyone- everyone either ignores me or stays away from me, and it's only going to get worse after what I did to that… uh…"

"Bill."

"Yeah, after what I did to Bill. Not that I mind. But I hate other people, other people hate me, and Maurice just _doesn't understand that," _Roger took a breath and glanced at Luna. She was looking at him, interested. "Sorry."

"Hate's kind of a strong word, don't you think? From what I've seen, Maurice, Jack, and your other friends don't hate you. They just seem a little scared at times. And I don't hate you," Luna said. "Are you sure you mean hate?"

"Pretty sure. Maybe it's just a mutual dislike – and Maurice is the exception. Maurice is always the exception. Maurice gets along with everyone, but for some reason he's decided to stick around me."

Just then, Maurice opened the door looking down at them. "That turned really deep and not what I was going for," he said, managing a half-smile. "Luna, you better get back to your common room."

Luna smiled at Roger and left, skipping through the halls. "So you were listening in?" Roger asked, swallowing.

"Do you even know me?" Maurice said. "Of course I was listening in."

"Um…" Roger trailed off. "Sorry."

Maurice nodded and walked away. "I won't wake you up anymore, if that's what you want. I mean, I wouldn't want to annoy you."

"Wait- Maurice!" Roger stood up. Maurice kept walking. "I-"

"Don't make excuses," Maurice said, so quietly that Roger thought that he might've imagined it. "I'm used to being the annoying one."

* * *

**Yay, conflict?**


	11. Chapter Eleven: Quidditch

Maurice almost woke up Roger for class that day. He was standing in front of Roger's bed, ready to just dismiss the last night, after all, Roger wasn't a nice person, so, in reality, it should be okay, right?

But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Maurice generally tried to be oblivious to verbal taunts –_sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me_ – but Roger… he'd considered Roger his best friend, and Roger had basically flat-out said that Maurice was annoying and that he hated him.

Maurice could understand annoying. Maurice was used to annoying. But… Roger _hated_ him? And… and…

And Roger was sort of waking up on his own now. Maurice should get out of there so Roger didn't add creepy to the list of adjectives used to describe Maurice.

He ate breakfast quickly, joking around with Blaise Zabini a bit. He liked Blaise. Blaise was a nice person, apart from his… you know, pureblood supremacy thought process. But Maurice was a pureblood, so Blaise was nice to him.

Classes went a little awkwardly. Maurice had moved seats – he now sat beside the blond Ravenclaw that Roger had attacked in Potions, and in every other class he decided to annoy Harold.

After lunch, Roger approached him. "Okay. Look," he said. "I- I'm sorry."

Maurice blinked. Roger went on.

"I mean, you're annoying. But. Um. First of all. I was late for class this morning. So I need you for that. And-"

Maurice debated watching him suffer more, but he looked incredibly uncomfortable and, as funny as it was, Maurice wasn't that mean. "It's okay," he said, grinning. "You're not a nice person and you suck at having friends."

Roger blinked. "Um. Okay."

"So I don't blame you," Maurice said, throwing an arm around Roger's shoulders. "Come on, let's go be minions before lunch ends."

* * *

"It's time for Quidditch!" Jack said, bounding into their room. Harold ignored him. Roger glanced up and went back to his homework. Maurice decided to be the only one to actually acknowledge him.

"Oh, are we going?" he asked.

"Of course! First of all, we have to support Draco. And we have to cross our fingers in the hope that Roemers is brutally murdered by a bludger," Jack said, nodding. Maurice grinned.

"Sounds like fun! Come on, Roger! Have fun being alone, Harold!"

Harold threw a shoe at him as he was exiting the room.

Maurice enjoyed watching Quidditch games. Especially when Roger was muttering about the stupidity of having to be there, because then he could point things out to Roger and Roger could mutter that he didn't care, and then Jack could glare at both of them. It really was a fun time.

Every time a bludger came within ten feet of Ralph Roemers, Jack looked extremely hopeful. And then when one of the redheaded twins knocked it away, he cursed and looked extremely disappointing.

In all, these were fun people to watch Quidditch matches with.

It got even more exciting when one of the bludgers started to _chase Harry Potter around. _Even Roger looked up at that. Jack decided that Harry Potter, while not a totally acceptable replacement for Ralph Roemers, deserved to be brutally murdered by a bludger, too.

And while Harry Potter was being chased by one bludger, the other hit Ralph in the chest. Jack cheered while the blond was taken to the hospital wing.

"I'm bored, can we go?" Roger asked. Jack glanced at him.

"Yeah, sure, Roemers is out," Jack said. He was weirdly happy. Maurice wasn't sure he liked it.

* * *

**So. This is just a really short filler chapter. Cx Next chapter we'll get into the petrifying and stuff... they'll start getting better once I get my hands on a copy of the Chamber of Secrets, because I'm basically going by what I remember. xP**


	12. Chapter Twelve: Petrified

**It's been a while, huh? Cx Well, we've got three POVs in this chapter, not just Luna. Mostly her, but there is also Simon and Jack. :D**

* * *

"I should probably go back to the castle, huh, Cassandra?" Simon asked the lizard, glancing up at the sunset. "I wouldn't want to get in trouble."

He set his pet lizard down, watched it scurry into its home, and headed back to the castle. He'd been having a good day so far. Sure, a few nights ago Colin Creevey of Gryffindor house had been petrified, but he would probably be fine.

It was rather ominous-looking in the school. Nobody was around, not even a few seventh years scurrying back from the library or Slytherins looking for a first year to pester. The sun shining through the windows made odd shadows on the floor, and Simon spent a good amount of time looking at his reflection in a suit of armor.

Hold on, was that something moving behind him? He looked closer at the armor. Yes, it was-

* * *

_Daddy-_

_Simon has gotten petrified. _

_Luna_

Luna finished the letter hastily and sent it on its way, biting her lip. She really was worried. She'd gone to see Simon, and he'd just been so… lifeless. Lifeless and dead. But he wasn't dead. No… he'd be fine with the mandrakes, she'd been told.

But it would be… it would be hard.

[linelineline]

"Luna! You should come to the dueling club with me!" Piggy said. Luna heard Bill snicker and glanced around, forgetting that Simon had been petrified for a moment. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Nobody could have fun with you around, Fatty," Bill said, smirking and walking out the door. Michael Corner and a reluctant-looking Terry Boot followed him, Michael Corner throwing something at them on the way out.

It was a crudely drawn picture of Luna, Piggy, and Simon labeled 'The Losers Club.' Luna's hair was all over the place, and she looked insane. Piggy's bulk took up half of the entire page. Simon was dead.

"They shouldn't do that," Piggy said, pushing up his glasses, and glaring. Luna crumpled the paper and threw it in the fire, watching the flames engulf it. "Let's go, okay?"

The Great Hall was packed. Luna looked for Roger and saw him by Maurice, who seemed to be reenacting the Quidditch game that Harry Potter had broken his arm in. He stopped halfway through to send a grin Luna's way and nudge and wink at Roger. Roger glanced at her and turned red. Luna felt her face heat up as well and she looked away.

She was crushed between Piggy and a Gryffindor first year – the one with the twin. He grinned at her and turned back to his twin. The two were bothering a handsome blond who was glaring at the redheaded Slytherin.

People were interesting.

Professors Lockhart and Snape wandered onstage. Luna admired Professor Lockhart's robes; they were a rather nice shade of purple.

Professor Lockhart said an introduction but Luna wasn't paying much attention, she was busy watching Roger Greyback try to get out of Maurice's hug. Luna wasn't quite sure why Maurice was giving him a hug, but she wasn't bothered by it. It was a little weird, sure, but she wasn't judging them.

Oh, Snape and Lockhart were doing something! Luna watched, not even caring that the twin she was closest to was pressed uncomfortably close to her.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the expected combatant position. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I hope they both die," the handsome blond Gryffindor said. The twins laughed.

"One – two – three –"

Snape was faster with an 'expelliarmus', sending Lockhart flying into a wall. Luna saw Roger and the rest of his group of Slytherins cheer. Maurice was grinning widely, one arm still slung across Roger's shoulders. Luna looked away.

Lockhart got up, sputtering excuses. Snape looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me –"

Piggy reached for Luna, but she shrugged him off and went for Roger, who had been left partnerless as Maurice was paired off with Jack. "Miss…?"

"Lovegood."

"You partner up with Mister Greyback for this exercise, I believe," Professor Snape said. Luna nodded and smiled at Roger, who looked extremely uncomfortable. Luna glanced around. They were among some of the only boy-girl partners in the room. Piggy was trying and failing to get the attention of his partner, the handsome blond Gryffindor. The twins were grinning brightly at each other.

"Face your partners and bow!"

Luna bowed, noticing that Roger didn't. She didn't mention it.

"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent – only to disarm them – we don't want any accidents – one… two… three…"

Luna had barely enough time to react before Roger hit her with the disarming spell. It was powerful, enough to send her wand flying out of her hand. She went to find it while Roger, obviously bored, took out other people.

* * *

Jack watched with wonder as Maurice's wand flew out of his hand. He hadn't even attacked him yet! Well, if Maurice was out of the picture, then he could go get Ralph – no, no, his wand was gone, too. Well, the fat kid would do.

"Expelliarmus!" Jack yelled, and the fat kid's wand flew away, hitting Ralph on the top of the head. Ralph got up and glared at Jack, who glared back.

Eventually, one thing led to another and they were rolling on the floor, punching and scratching and, in one case, biting each other. Before Professor Snape pulled them apart, Jack saw Roger's smirk.

* * *

**I should be updating regularly from now on.**


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Christmas

"Roger, wake up!"

Roger sighed and rolled onto his stomach. Maurice pulled him out of his bed and he landed on the floor. "I stayed for you, you better get up with me on Christmas morning!"

"What's so special about Christmas?" Roger muttered, grabbing his blanket and pulling it down with him. Maurice gasped.

It was silent. Roger sat up and then Maurice threw something furry at his face. Roger fell backwards.

There was a kitten on his face.

"Happy Christmas!" Maurice cheered. "You seem awkwardly lonely all the time, so I got you a kitty. I wasn't going to name it, but then it started killing my homework, so I named it Annoying and the name sort of stuck."

"Its name is Annoying?" Roger asked, sitting up and holding the kitten up to his face. It was small, gray-and-white, and had just scratched his nose. "Ow."

"I should've named it Evil," Maurice mused. "Anyway, look, you have presents. I throw them at you with great enthusiasm!"

Roger briefly wondered if anyone had gotten Maurice candy for Christmas, then stared at the pile of presents he had. Why did he have presents? He could understand Maurice giving him something, but who else?

"You got something from Jack, something from Harold – hey, he didn't get me anything, he probably hates me, something from Draco, something from… uh, I can't read that, and- ooh! You got something from your girlfriend!"

Roger set the kitten down and grabbed the smallish package from Maurice.

_To Roger_

_From Luna_

He didn't want to open it with Maurice practically falling on top of him, but he honestly wanted to know what was inside. So he ripped it open and a gold necklace-thing fell out. Maurice grabbed it out of his lap.

"Ooh, it's got a wolf thing-y," he said. "Your girlfriend likes you-"

"She's not my girlfriend," Roger muttered, turning red. Maurice grinned and put it on Roger. It caught on Roger's ear. "Watch out, you're going to take my ear off!"

Eventually Maurice stopped touching him and Roger was able to open the rest of his presents in peace while Maurice played with Annoying – okay, Roger was really going to have to think of a better name for that thing.

Nemesis sounded good.

He'd gotten that scarf from Draco, some candy – which he immediately tossed over to Maurice, who squealed and nearly gave Nemesis a heart attack, and a letter from Jack.

_First-years aren't allowed broomsticks, but next year you'll have one. Maurice says you're good at Quidditch. I'll give it to you when we go home for summer. _

The rest of the day passed smoothly – they mostly stayed up in their dorm, because the minute they stepped downstairs Malfoy started interrogating them about how they liked the imported scarves – and soon it was time for Christmas dinner.

"Hurry up!" Maurice said, grabbing Roger's hand and pulling him out of their dorm. "No, Annoying – uh, Nemesis, you can't come! Hurry up!"

It seemed that since Harold (and Jack, and Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott…) had gone home for Christmas, Roger was going to be the center of Maurice's attention until they came back. Even Draco bragging about his new sweater couldn't tear Maurice's attention away from Roger, which Roger found extremely creepy. "What does Nemesis mean, anyway?" Maurice asked.

"Greek goddess of revenge," Roger muttered. Maurice rolled his eyes.

"Of course you'd pick revenge," he said. "But if you were going to go creepy, why not go Hades or… uh… Hades? I mean, the cat's a girl, but still."

The entire dinnertime conversation was like this, and Roger couldn't even glance over to the Ravenclaw table to look at Luna, because she'd gone home. He settled for glaring at the Gryffindor twins in his year.

"Hey, Maurice…" Roger said, watching the twins as they got up from the table and headed for the door. "Let's go."

"What? I'm not done yet-" Maurice cut himself off when he saw where Roger was looking. "Okay."

They followed the twins up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Maurice was suspiciously good at sneaking around, though he was a little bit too dramatic about it. Roger, when he wasn't trying to intimidate people, just seemed to melt into the walls, so not being seen wasn't really a problem.

They leaped into the common room before the door closed.

That's when the twins saw them.

"What are you doing in here?" one of them asked. Roger glared, and Maurice grinned.

"Hey! I'm Maurice Macmillan, and this is my creepy friend Roger!" he said. "We're Slytherins!"

"Yeah, we could tell that for ourselves," the other one said. "Anyway, I'm Sam-"

"And I'm Eric."

"Do you guys ever switch places for fun? I would if I had a twin. You know, I wonder if I could have a lost twin somewhere…" Maurice rambled on, and soon both twins forgot about Roger, who decided to go mess with some Gryffindor dormitories.

He eventually found himself in some random dormitory with Zonko's products strewn all over. Two of the beds were pushed closer than the others – partially for scheming, partially for comfort, Roger guessed.

There was someone coming up the stairs. Roger dove underneath one of the beds that looked like its owner had gone home for Christmas and waited.

It was the other Gryffindor twins.

"I wonder why there was a Slytherin in the common room," one of them said.

"Well, it was the weird one – you know, the one who's got a Hufflepuff brother and drags the werewolf kid around with him."

"True."

"Mum's going to regret she sent us this for Christmas," the second one said, changing the subject abruptly.

They didn't leave. Roger ended up falling asleep under the bed, curled up in a ball on the floor. Thankfully he was quiet – if Maurice had been in this situation his snoring would wake the twins up even if he could manage to keep quiet – or otherwise he'd have been in some trouble.

It was quiet. Maybe they were sleeping, or already at breakfast.

Roger slid out from under the bed.

"Gotcha!" one of them shouted, and Roger was dragged up onto the bed, kicking and trying to bite whoever was holding his arms back.

"Well, George, it seems we've caught a trespasser," one of them said. The one that was holding onto him laughed.

"It's that werewolf kid. The one that hit the bludger that gave you a concussion," he said.

Roger was fairly certain more would've happened had Maurice not burst through the door at that exact moment. "Roger! There you are! Why are you still here? I left _hours _ago. Also I ran into Harry Potter and that orange-haired kid on my way back to the common room in Slytherin robes. That's something we should've thought of – Gryffindor robes. Oh, hi, I'm Maurice!"

"Fred-"

"And George Weasley."

"Can you let Roger go now? I need to drag him down to breakfast and annoy him with tales of his kitten."

"Uh… okay, I guess…" George said, letting go of Roger. Maurice grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the Gryffindor common room, ignoring stares from random Gryffindors as they went.

"Wow, you're lucky I showed up when I did!"

* * *

**And here we go. :) **

**Uh, yeah. I hope you enjoyed, review if you have something to say, et cetera. :D**


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Valentine's Day

Maurice loved Valentine's Day.

Sure, it wasn't as good as Christmas, but, as well as being his birthday, it was just _fun. _He'd always liked giving all of the little people in the town near where he lived candy and hugs and sometimes he kissed them if they looked like they wanted him to. Or if he wanted to.

Roger just wasn't getting the importance of Valentine's Day, however.

"C'mon Roger, you should at least send your girlfriend a card," Maurice said. They were at breakfast. "I mean, I'm telling those little dwarf-things to give random people cards that tell them that they're awesome signed '_Affection Man.' _They'll never figure it out."

Roger rolled his eyes.

"See, once you send her a card, you jump out from behind a statue or something and then grab her face and," Maurice paused and grabbed Roger's face. "Kiss her!"

Roger shoved him away. Maurice grinned. Harold muttered something about how they were all stupid and stalked away. Jack glanced over from his discussion with Draco.

"You know, Roger, if you like her, you should tell her. It won't be long before the mandrakes are ready and that mudblood is un-petrified."

"Tell her like you're going to tell Ralph that you have a major crush on him?" Maurice pointed out, then left the table with Roger. Jack was red and denying ever liking boys, let alone Ralph. Especially not Ralph. Because Ralph was annoying because Ralph was attractive and this wasn't really helping, was it?

"Keep going. I have to do something," Maurice said. Roger shrugged and kept walking. Maurice caught hold of one of the dwarf-things. "You see the guy I was with? Roger? Send him a singing one."

"From Affection Man?"

"Anonymous."

"'Kay."

Maurice gave him the details and caught up to Roger, who by now looked suspicious. "What were you doing?" he asked. Maurice grinned.

"Nothing you need to worry about!"

Roger still looked suspicious.

After Transfiguration, one of the dwarf-things made a beeline for him. Roger looked at it and walked faster. He looked like he was contemplating stabbing it multiple times. Or perhaps hacking it up with an axe.

"Af- Anonymous says to have a lovely day and that your eyes remind Anonymous of chocolate that nobody wants to eat because it's not sweet enough and-"

Roger left before it could finish.

Maurice had chosen one of the less enthusiastic dwarf-things. It turned to him and shrugged, then waddled away.

Maurice followed Roger, who glared at him as soon as he appeared.

"_You."_

"What of course not," Maurice said, giggling. Roger looked positively murderous. "So, did you end up sending your girlfriend a card?"

* * *

Maurice was bored.

After Valentine's Day, Roger had refused to speak to him for about a week. Maurice annoyed Harold and Jack and those people.

It was during these annoying-people-times that he learned something quite interesting.

"You know the Groundskeeper?" Jack asked. Maurice nodded. "They took him off to Azkaban. Because he's the one killing the mudbloods."

"My father took him away," Draco said, popping into their conversation. "My father-"

"I doubt he's the heir of Slytherin," Jack said. Draco glared at him, but Jack took no notice. "He's too stupid."

"He was it fifty years ago," Draco said.

"Yeah, right," Jack snorted. "By the way, Maurice, where's Roger?"

"I embarrassed him on Valentine's Day and now he doesn't like me," Maurice said. "It's just a phase. This has happened before."

At that Roger, approached them and sat down beside Maurice.

"I told you."

* * *

Maurice was playing with Nemesis while Roger got dressed. The kitten had grown quite a bit in the few months since Christmas – she was now large enough to drag Roger's robes all over and hide them from him. Maurice was convinced he'd chosen the right kitten for Roger. Even though there had been a really mean-looking black one.

"Who do you think the heir of Slytherin is?" Roger asked suddenly, crawling under his bed to find his tie. Maurice thought about it, then shrugged.

"Dunno," he said, pulling his finger back as Nemesis swiped at it. "Your cat hates me."

"Good."

* * *

**Okay, this is really short. But. At least it exists.**

**Also, updates may randomly stop sometime through November, depending on how much I get written ahead of time.  
I'm doing NaNoWriMo, an event in which you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. It's fun. I suggest everyone should try it, even if they're not going to be serious about it.  
**


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Looking for the Monster

"Do you feel like going to the Quidditch match?" Piggy asked Luna, and she shook her head, not wanting to really do anything at the moment, especially with Piggy. It wasn't like she didn't like Piggy, but sometimes she didn't always want to be around him. She really missed Simon.

"Doesn't matter if she does or not," Bill muttered, passing by them. "It's been cancelled."

"What? Why would they do that?" Piggy asked. Bill rolled his eyes.

"Why do you even care?" he asked, and Luna took this opportunity to run up to her dormitory. She just wanted to be alone right now.

Unfortunately, the other girls in her year were in her dorm. She wasn't really friends with any of them, and none of them really acknowledged her existence. Luna decided that perhaps she should just wander about the castle. Maybe she could visit Simon in the Hospital Wing. It had been a while since she'd seen him. The only problem would be sneaking past Piggy, but Luna figured that if she was quick, she could outrun him. And maybe he was still arguing with Bill.

She crept back down the stairs into the common room, gaining the attention of nobody. Piggy was still arguing with Bill. It looked like it was about to get physical. Terry Boot, who had been standing threateningly behind Bill with Michael Corner, glanced over and spotted her. He muttered something to Michael and walked over to join her.

"Are you going to visit Simon?" he asked. Luna nodded. "Well… would you mind if I joined you? I mean, Simon is… was… a nice kid. I mean, I liked him."

"Alright," Luna said. "Though I would prefer to be alone."

Terry looked hurt. "Well, if you don't want me to come…"

"No, it's alright," she said. Terry still looked uncomfortable, but he nodded, and the two headed through the surprisingly empty corridors to the Hospital Wing. "Where is everyone?" Luna asked.

"Common rooms," Terry said. He looked embarrassed. "I forgot. We were told to go back to the common rooms and wait."

"Oh," Luna said. "We should probably head back then, shouldn't we?"

Terry nodded, and they turned around. Luna could hear someone coming – running, laughing, and talking loudly. It sounded like Maurice Macmillan, and where Maurice was, Roger Greyback probably was, too. Luna switched directions and headed for the noise. She heard Terry call after her and ignored him; she did really want to see Roger.

She saw him just before he turned a corner and ran to catch up. "Roger!" she said. Both him and Maurice paused, Maurice's face stretching into a grin.

"Hi Luna!" he said. "We're gonna see if we can find the monster. It has to be around here somewhere. This is where both of the girls were petrified."

"Which girls?" Luna asked. Roger spoke this time, voice low and quiet.

"Penelope Clearwater and Hermione Granger," he said. "Both mudbloods."

"Penelope's in my house," Luna said. "Why do you want to look for the monster, anyway? It doesn't seem like a very smart thing to do."

"We – well, I – figure that if the need comes, Roger can just freak the thing out enough that it will leave. Besides, we're both Slytherins and both purebloods, so we should be totally fine," Maurice said. "Are you a pureblood?"

"Yes," Luna said, though she wasn't totally sure. She thought so, probably. "I think so."

"Great!" Maurice said brightly. "Then we'll have nothing to worry about!"

The three – plus a very reluctant Terry Boot, who was trailing behind them, looking around every few seconds like he was expecting to be attacked – wandered around the library, keeping an eye out for Madam Pince even though Luna thought she was probably elsewhere, poking around in corners. Roger even managed to wriggle his way into the restricted section. He found nothing in there except a book that attacked him. He nearly lost an eye in his haste to get out.

"Luna, I really think that we should head back," Terry said, glancing around. Night had fallen by now, and they'd had to jump behind shelves more than once to avoid Filch. "We're going to get in trouble-"

"Luna, tell your annoying friend to either shut up or get out of here," Maurice said from atop a bookshelf. Luna didn't know how he'd gotten up there. Perhaps some magical creature had helped him up there. Luna wouldn't doubt it. Magical creatures often frequented libraries. "He's ruining the fun."

"I don't want to go out there alone," Terry said. His voice was small. Luna looked at him, and he met her eyes. "Please come with me."

"Aren't you a second-year?" Maurice asked, climbing down from the bookshelf. He stepped on quite a few books, and Luna saw Terry wince at the footmarks on the pages. "Should you really be scared?"

"This is _Hogwarts_," Terry said. "If you haven't noticed, it's a terrifying place. Last year our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had You-Know-Who on the back of his head! There's deadly things around every corner! I have every right to be afraid, especially with a gigantic monster on the loose!"

"Are you a mudblood, then?" Maurice asked. "Half-blood?"

Terry shook his head. "Pureblood," he said. "But… I don't want to get caught by teachers, either. _Please, _Luna."

Luna really did want to stay, exploring the dark library with Maurice and Roger, but… they probably should head back. "We probably should go," she said. Maurice gave her a hug, and she waved and smiled at Roger, who turned a deep red and turned around.

The way back to the common room was nerve-wracking and difficult. As soon as they got back, Terry left her, joining Bill, Michael, and Anthony Goldstein. Luna hadn't seen Anthony hang around them before, but she supposed that perhaps Bill's coolness had pulled him in. As much as Luna didn't like Bill and thought he was a bit of a prick, he was very cool.

But she still liked Roger, Maurice, and Simon better.

* * *

**it has been such a long time since i've updated this fanfiction**

**like**

**wow**

**but**

**i have found a copy of the second book so**

**expect updates**

**until i finish up the second one and have to search for number three**


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